Wikileaks: Julian Assange's internet access 'cut' • Hacker News Board

Re: Wikileaks: Julian Assange's internet access 'cut'

#201

Post by fnovd » Mon, Oct 17, 2016, 3:41 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #156

arkitaip wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You actually believe some 4channers when he says he is a intelligence officer? I have a bridge to sell you...

No, I don't believe it, but it is a possibility I had not thought of and the fact that Assange's internet access has been shut off lends at least a little bit of credibility to the comments (note how that post was made already 8 hours ago). also , why would I believe some anonymous HN'er about anything. Information is either true or false, the source isn't really relevant, all that matters are the facts.

>Information is either true or false, the source isn't really relevant, all that matters are the facts.

Absurd. Of course your sources matter. A credible source is more believable than an incredible source. Ever heard of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf"? Looking only at the material presented and not at the presenter of the material is only giving you part of the picture.

Re: Wikileaks: Julian Assange's internet access 'cut'

#202

Post by drzaiusapelord » Mon, Oct 17, 2016, 3:41 PM UTC

throwawayIndian wrote: post #148

> so what exactly will this accomplish… Many things! Instill a fear may be. Demonstrate their power to kill at will and their willingness to do so. Prevent outing of more truths about the Silicon Valley-Washington DC alliance. Meh. Let the downvotes begin… :)

Assange has a lot more enemies than the ones you choose to believe. Considering the Panama Papers were pretty much a long expose of Russian and Middle-East corruption, much moreso than the West, I suspect a lot of angry autocrats and dictators would like a piece of him too and they're not shy about war crimes or assassinating journalists.

The leaks he's released target dozens of nations. He has a lot of enemies:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_published_by_WikiL...

edit: apparantly he didn't do the panama papers, but the above link shows a lot of players who are going to be angry at him, especially his host nation considering he leaked UK Trident nuclear secrets last year.

Re: Wikileaks: Julian Assange's internet access 'cut'

#203

Post by jonknee » Mon, Oct 17, 2016, 3:41 PM UTC

Iv wrote: post #170

My understanding is that we do not have any proofs of life from Assange. It could be many things: assassination, deal with Ecuador, extradition by Ecuador or someone else, simply an internet censorship, a PR stunt by Assange. All is possible. This guy lives a fucking dystopian nightmare.

Yea or it could just be the internet is down. It happens to regular people all the time.

Re: Wikileaks: Julian Assange's internet access 'cut'

#204

Post by MichaelBurge » Mon, Oct 17, 2016, 3:42 PM UTC

bbctol wrote: post #176

marketanarchist wrote: post #149

Does anyone honestly believe Hillary is not involved in this? She has shown time and time again that there is nothing she won't do to get what she wants and cling on to power.

What do you think Hillary's involvement is? What power does she have here?

Obama was recently revealed to be communicating with her personal email server, in a Wikileaks leak. Podesta asked if they should withhold those presidential emails from the FBI.

And then this happened. It could be that Obama is now pressuring them to get Assange, since Wikileaks is covering him. And certainly Obama does have the ability to project power worldwide.

Re: Wikileaks: Julian Assange's internet access 'cut'

#205

Post by throwaway98237 » Mon, Oct 17, 2016, 3:42 PM UTC

Perhaps this is this election cycle's "October Surprise"?

If this is Clinton attempting to seal-the-deal on the election, I'm officially not voting. Anyone that uses the power of the state (read: the power of the gun) to silence speech is a non-starter in my book.

Re: Wikileaks: Julian Assange's internet access 'cut'

#206

Post by TAForObvReasons » Mon, Oct 17, 2016, 3:42 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #127

- Is the whole embassy shut down? - Is there any direct reason for the timing (US elections, attack on Mosul or other current headlines)? - Was there any imminent release? (last week there was an announcement of a leak but it didn't materialize as far as I know) http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/4/13159914/wikileaks-hillary... - You'd assume that Wikileaks the organization will continue to work even without Assange hav…

Technical question: assuming no targeted malware, is it possible for an actor outside of the embassy network to cut internet access to Assange's devices while leaving the other devices in the network unaffected?

Re: Wikileaks: Julian Assange's internet access 'cut'

#207

Post by jonknee » Mon, Oct 17, 2016, 3:43 PM UTC

marketanarchist wrote: post #149

Does anyone honestly believe Hillary is not involved in this? She has shown time and time again that there is nothing she won't do to get what she wants and cling on to power.

I don't believe Hillary is involved in this. What possible benefit does it provide to her? He obviously still has communications because he's out on the Internet claiming he has no Internet access.

Re: Wikileaks: Julian Assange's internet access 'cut'

#208

Post by drusepth » Mon, Oct 17, 2016, 3:43 PM UTC

dllthomas wrote: post #112

johansch wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If he has a laptop it almost certainly hacked if it's in any way connected to the Internet. How could it not be?

> [...] if it's in any way connected to the Internet And probably even if not.

He's gotta sleep every once in a while.

Re: Wikileaks: Julian Assange's internet access 'cut'

#209

Post by drzaiusapelord » Mon, Oct 17, 2016, 3:43 PM UTC

herghost wrote: post #168

I do find myself confused by Assange's motivation when taken in context of his circumstances. If he has and holds evidence of something so damaging that a tweet of the supposed hash of the file is enough to be a threat to a person in power, then why has he allowed himself to live under effectively self-imposed house-arrest for the past 4 years? I can't imagine that the Wikileaks apparatus doesn't have sufficient op-s…

Or they don't have anything of value that they haven't released. The idea that's he's sitting on something valuable to protect himself seems questionable to me considering he's pretty much a prisoner in an embassy for the forseeable future. I suspect Assange's ego is way to big for him to sit on anything 'juicy' for very long. He needs to keep himself and wikileaks relevant.

Also they have the ability to spread information as they see fit. See his various leaks for example. Assange isn't hosting an ftp for everyone at the embassy. This stuff goes out via torrents, mailed drives to journalists, and via Assange's army of helpers.

Re: Wikileaks: Julian Assange's internet access 'cut'

#210

Post by chejazi » Mon, Oct 17, 2016, 3:43 PM UTC

herghost wrote: post #168

I do find myself confused by Assange's motivation when taken in context of his circumstances. If he has and holds evidence of something so damaging that a tweet of the supposed hash of the file is enough to be a threat to a person in power, then why has he allowed himself to live under effectively self-imposed house-arrest for the past 4 years? I can't imagine that the Wikileaks apparatus doesn't have sufficient op-s…

The only explanation is that the revelations are recent. We won't know until (if) it's released.